Vending-machine.



A. D. LOVEREN.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, 1913.

Patnted Aug. 10, 1915;

3 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES, r i -s l/VVE/VTOR WWW/M W ATTORNEYS A. D. LOVEREN.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, 1913.

I Patented Aug. 10, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- INVENTOR A TTOHNEYS A. o. LOVEREN.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILEb SEPT. 15, I9I3.

1,149,377, Patented Aug. 10,1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

g Aha/Mrs ARTHUR D. LOVEREN, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 'lO AMERICAN AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

Application filed September 15, 1913. Serial No. 789,767.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR D. LOVEREN, citizen of the United States, and resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to vending machines, particularly machines of this character which dispense candy, chewing-gum or other small light articles, such as lead pencils, cigars or the like.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a machine of this character which is entirely automatic, the drop of the coin itself setting in motion the mechanism for ejecting the article.

Another object is to provide a mechanism for machine of this character which is certain in its action and will accurately dispense the required article or number of articles Without fail every time a coin is dropped in the coin chute.

A further object is to provide a machine of this character which is not readily tampered with and will not respond unless a coin is actually dropped in the chute.

The various further objects and advantages will more fully appear from the detailed description and the features of novelty will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiments of my invention, Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section along line 1-1 of Fig. 2, of one form of vending machine with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a section taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the lower portion of the machine, the section being taken along line 33 of Fig. 2, at right angles to the section in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a section similar to Fig. 3 illustrating the mechanismin operation, one ball having dropped upon the feed table previous to its discharge. Fig. 5 is an elevation partly in section of a modified form of apparatus embodying the invention. Fig. 6 is a section taken along line 66 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a detail view of the supporting dog for the trip lever. Fig. 8 is a fragmental sectional elevation, and Fig. 9 is a fragmental sectional plan view of a modified form of trip lever. Fig. 10 is a like.

fragmental sectional elevation of a modified coin chute to be used in connection with the trip lever illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation partly broken away of a modified formof the invention adapted for vending long cylindrical objects, such as stick candy, pencils and the Fig. 12 is a sectional elevation of a further modified form of the invention adapted for dispensing rectangular-articles, such as chewing-gum and the like.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, the machine is provided with a suitable reservoir 10 containing the balls 11 which are discharged through the mouth 12 of the reservoir by the mechanism operated by the coin. This mechanism consists of a tiltable feed table 13 having an upstanding arm 14 which forms a support for the balls and permits the same to drop upon the table when the latter is tilted. The table is pivoted at a suitable-point 15 at or adjacent to the center line of the balls, and when the table is depressed, as in the position illustrated in Fig. 3, the outer end of the arm 11 contacting the bottom of the ball is swung to a position at or slightly passed the center line of the balls. The latter are thus supported and the weight thereof will not tend to disturb the vpostionof the support or table. \Vhen the latter is tilted into position indicated in solid lines in Fig. 4, as by the insertion of a coin in the slot as hereinafter explained, one ball drops into the pocket formed by the table and the arm Ll, while the succeeding ball is held up by the ball in the pocket. Immediately thereafter the weight of the ball itself, as well as the weight of the table, willswing the latter downward, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4, and the ball thereon will roll off into a suitable bowl, to which ready access is had by the person depositing the coin, the arm 1-1 in the meantime swinging rapidly over to support the succeeding ball. A roller 16 may be mounted at the outer end of the arm 14; which contacts the balls so as to facilitate the tilting action of the table, and the top of the table may be formed with a slightly concaved surface 17 so as to more readily guide the ball to roll down to the pro-per place for discharge.

The table is tilted by the action of the coin as follows: Disposed preferably at one side of the reservoir is a coin chute 18 into which a coin may be deposited through the coin slot 19. Projecting under the bottom of the coin chute is the end of a trip lever fulcrumed at a suitable point 21 and formed with an arm.22 engaging the table preferably at the bottom thereof. As the coin drops to the bottom of the chute it hits the projecting end of the lever20 swinging the same and thereby tilting the table 13 to dispense a ball as previously explained. The coin may then drop in a suitable coin box 23 located at the bottom of the casing. By the use of the trip lever, the mechanism is rendered "ery sensitive and the transverse mounting of the trip lever relatively to the feed table results in a very compact construction as readily appears from Fig. 2 of the drawing. To prevent tampering with the mechanism by an unauthorized person, a hinged flap 24 is provided adjacent the lower edge of the table 13 and disposed so as to open outward to permit the ball to be discharged, but preventing the insertion of a wire or other instrument through the discharge opening. The rear wall of the coin chute is also formed with a plurality of apertures 25 to prevent the insertion of a wire down the chute through the coin slot. As the latter opens outward horizontally and the chute extends down vertically, a wire inserted through the slot will contact the forward wall of the coin chute and will catch in one of the apertures 25. Any suitable guideway may be provided for the ball when it leaves the table and passes the flap 24. In the form of apparatus illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, the guideway 26 curves toward the midwidth of machine and opens into the discharge bowl 27 located at the front of the machine.

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the tilting table 30 is formed with a laterally inturned mouth 31 through which the ball may be discharged into a tube 32 leading to a bowl 33 located at the bottom 'of the machine. The trip lever 3 L is preferably connected to the table by a link 35 universally pivoted to the side of the table. To prevent the movement of the trip lever, by turning the entire machine out of the vertical, a suitable supporting dog 36 may be pivoted at any convenient point adjacent to the bottom of thecoin chute and provided with a projection or tooth 37 extending under the end of the lever 34 to support the same in its normal position. A very light spring 38 bearing-against the back of the free end of the dog, holds the latter in the position illustrated in Fig. 7, wherein the lever is supported. The dog is formed with an inclined face 39 which the coin engages in its fall to free the lever, just before it hits the projecting end of the lever to actuate the same. The portion 39 of the dog may be in the path of the coin while the rest of the dog may be to one side as'illustrated in Fig. 5. Thus thebody of the dog is out of the way of the'coin and does not interfere with the movement thereof in actuating the lever. The tilting table may be slightly Wei hted so as to overcome the slight resistance 0 'ered by the dog against the return of the trip lever to normal position.

In Figs. 8, 9 and 10, illustrating a modi: fied form of coin chute and trip lever, the coin chute 40 is formed with a laterally extending mouth 41 into which extends, preferably through a slot 42, the rounded end 43 of the trip lever 44. After the coin strikes the end of the lever and starts to travel toward the mouth of the chute, the curved wall 45 of the chute engages the edge of the coin and causes it to roll slightly to one side of thedever so that when the mouth of the chut is reached, the coin drops to one side into t e coin box. By this arrangement the coin is not required to move past the end of the lever to drop into the coin box and is merely required to roll to one side of the lever.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 11 for vending long cylindrical articles as stick candy or lead pencils and the like, the tilting table 50 is elongated laterally and the trip lever 51 is formed with an arm 52 so as to engage the tilting table adjacent to the midwidth thereof. This may be accomplished by forming the end of the arm 52 with an upwardly extending portion 53 constituting the point of contact with the table. The construction otherwise need not differ materially from the other forms illustrated.

In the further modified form illustrated in Fig. 12, wherein rectangular articles are dispensed, the tilting table 60, operated by the tripping lever 61 is formed preferably with a plurality of rolls 62 which ermit the rectangular object to readily side down the table and discharge past the flap 63 into the bowl 64.

It will thus be seen that have provided a mechainsm which automatically discharges an article from acontainer by the impact of the coin itself without the 'aidjof any further manual operation aside from the inserting of the coin in the slot.

Although I have shown the various forms of machine adapted to dischar e the articles one at a time, it will be readily understood that it is merely a matter of Varying the proportion of the parts to obtain the dis-. charge of two or more articles in case it is desired to sell more than one article for the com.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination with a long comparatively narrow casing of a container having a discharge opening a tiltable member pivoted adjacent the vertical center line of the lowermost article, said member comprising a guideway and an arm at an angle thereto, said arm extending from the pivot to a point to one side of the center line of the lowermost article and contacting and supporting the same, and a lever fulcrumed' transversely of the pivoted member and engaging said member for tilting the same, said lever having a portion adapted to be struck by'a moving object, said member returning to normal position to discharge the article deposited thereon and to support the'succeeding article when the lever is freed from the impulse of the actuating object.

2. In combination with a container having a discharge opening and a tiltable memher pivoted adjacent said opening compris- ,ing an arm adapted to support the lowermost article, a lever for tilting said member having a portion of the same'adapted .to be hit by a moving object to actuate the'same,

and a spring dog engaging the lever to hold the same in normal osition said dog being provided with an 0 set cam face which is hit by the moving object to disengage the dog previous to its actuating the lever. igned at New York in the county of New York and State of New York-this eleventh NATHAN COHEN. 

